Question

A river 500 ft wide flows with a speed of 8 ft/s with respect to the earth. A woman swims with a speed of 4 ft/s with respect to the water.
1) If the woman heads directly across the river, how far downstream is she swept when she reaches the opposite bank?
d1 =
2) If she wants to be swept a smaller distance downstream, she heads a bit upstream. Suppose she orients her body in the water at an angle of 37° upstream (where 0° means heading straight accross, as in part (a)), how far downstream is she swept before reaching the opposite bank?
d2 =
3) For the conditions of part (b), how long does it take for her to reach the opposite bank?
t =

Answer 1

Answer:

1) $\Delta s=1000\ ft$

2)  $\Delta s'=998.11\ ft.s^{-1}$

3) $t\approx125\ s$

$t'\approx463.733\ s$

Explanation:

Given:

width of river, $w=500\ ft$

speed of stream with respect to the ground, $v_s=8\ ft.s^{-1}$

speed of the swimmer with respect to water, $v=4\ ft.s^{-1}$

Now the resultant of the two velocities perpendicular to each other:

$v_r=\sqrt{v^2+v_s^2}$

$v_r=\sqrt{4^2+8^2}$

$v_r=8.9442\ ft.s^{-1}$

Now the angle of the resultant velocity form the vertical:

$\tan\beta=\frac{v_s}{v}$

$\tan\beta=\frac{8}{4}$

$\beta=63.43^{\circ}$

• Now the distance swam by the swimmer in this direction be d.

so,

$d.\cos\beta=w$

$d\times \cos\ 63.43=500$

$d=1118.034\ ft$

Now the distance swept downward:

$\Delta s=\sqrt{d^2-w^2}$

$\Delta s=\sqrt{1118.034^2-500^2}$

$\Delta s=1000\ ft$

2)

On swimming 37° upstream:

The velocity component of stream cancelled by the swimmer:

$v'=v.\cos37$

$v'=4\times \cos37$

$v'=3.1945\ ft.s^{-1}$

Now the net effective speed of stream sweeping the swimmer:

$v_n=v_s-v'$

$v_n=8-3.1945$

$v_n=4.8055\ ft.s^{-1}$

The  component of swimmer's velocity heading directly towards the opposite bank:

$v'_r=v.\sin37$

$v'_r=4\sin37$

$v'_r=2.4073\ ft.s^{-1}$

Now the angle of the resultant velocity of the swimmer from the normal to the stream:

$\tan\phi=\frac{v_n}{v'_r}$

$\tan\phi=\frac{4.8055}{2.4073}$

$\phi=63.39^{\circ}$

• Now let the distance swam in this direction be d'.

$d'\times \cos\phi=w$

$d'=\frac{500}{\cos63.39}$

$d'=1116.344\ ft$

Now the distance swept downstream:

$\Delta s'=\sqrt{d'^2-w^2}$

$\Delta s'=\sqrt{1116.344^2-500^2}$

$\Delta s'=998.11\ ft.s^{-1}$

3)

Time taken in crossing the rive in case 1:

$t=\frac{d}{v_r}$

$t=\frac{1118.034}{8.9442}$

$t\approx125\ s$

Time taken in crossing the rive in case 2:

$t'=\frac{d'}{v'_r}$

$t'=\frac{1116.344}{2.4073}$

$t'\approx463.733\ s$